Django Unchained

Before the actual review starts, I have some wonderful news to report. As of the morning of February 24th, 2013, I have officially seen every 2012 nominee for Best Picture. Yes, that's a full eight hours or so before the start of the ceremony. I've been trying to do it for years and I finally succeeded. Feels good. Sure, I had to power through Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, Amour, Life of Pi, and Beasts of the Southern Wild all in one weekend, but I can't say it wasn't worth it. I can confidently say that, having seen every one, this is one of the best sets of nominees I've seen in years. Sometimes there are a few nominees that make you wonder if they truly deserve the nomination (Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right, and Winter's Bone come to mind) but not here. Every single one of the nine was as deserving as all of the others. Sure, there were frontrunners, but every movie was top quality and that certainly includes Django Unchained.

I love Tarantino. It's a new discovery as I've just now gotten around to watching his best movies so I without a single shred of doubt knew that I'd love Django Unchained. It was basically spoken of as a Deep South version of Inglourious Basterds, complete with a returning Christoph Waltz. Django Unchained is an original masterpiece about a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who is freed by a German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Waltz.) Django, as a condition of his freedom, agrees to help Schultz find a group of sadists named the Brittle Brothers who had abused Django and his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) at his former plantation. The Brittles fall quickly and the two unlikely companions make a pact: Django will help Schultz hunt bad guys and Schultz will help Django find his wife who was sold off to a different slave owner. What follows is a beautiful sequence of acts that the duo put on in order to gain access to various plantations. Eventually, their travels lead them to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a sadistic but classy owner of the plantation known as Candyland. Calvin owns Broomhilda and the two are forced to play ball with a true monster.

Jamie Foxx has been generally invisible since his stunning performance in Ray back in 2004. He's shown up in some good supporting roles and some fantastic bit comedy parts (Horrible Bosses comes to mind) but he hasn't really done a good lead part since Ray. Well, he's back (and unchained) Other rumored contenders for the part of Django included Will Smith and Michael K. Williams, but after seeing Foxx in the role, I can't imagine anyone else. He's got the right amount of badass action chops when they're needed, but he can also dial it down and show tenderness and emotion when needed. We excuse his gratuitous violence because his longing to be back with Broomhilda is so potent.

Christoph Waltz is so good in his role as Dr. King Schultz that were Foxx not as good as he is, the experience of this film would really be all about Schultz. Granted, the audiences still talk about Waltz the most, but Foxx's performance is powerful enough to keep us with him even when Waltz is not onscreen. Waltz' performance is very similar to his previous one in Inglourious Basterds as the ruthlessly sadistic Hans Landa, but there's one difference: Schultz is a good man without the need for sadism. It's a testament to Waltz's abilities as an actor that he can so effectively play unrestrained evil and likable humanity. Waltz is helped by Tarantino's extra tender loving care in writing Schultz's lines, but Waltz is the one who brings them to life. He's sure to be one of the most remembered and loved characters of any recent movie.

It's very uncharacteristic of his performances that Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't show up until about halfway through the movie (in fact, I'd heard that this is the first time that DiCaprio hasn't gotten top billing in a film in 16 years) But the wait is worth it. DiCaprio doesn't often play villains. He's an expert at the troubled protagonist role. I've never seen such unbridled evil from him before and he played it with complete commitment and honesty. DiCaprio has stated in interviews that he hated his character, but it doesn't show. He jives with the role perfectly and creates a role that is both charming and terrifying at the same time. Special mention must come from the fact that he cut his hand open mid-scene and never broke character. For an actor who hates his character, he's awfully good at staying in character. I'd love to see him play more roles like this.

Tarantino knows what works and one of those "things" is Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson plays a supporting role that appears shortly after DiCaprio. It's that of Calvin Candie's old slave, Stephen. He's a man bred into self-loathing racism by the Candie family. He's every bit as vindictive towards blacks as any other white slaveowner in the movie. Jackson plays the role beautifully, dually juggling "crotchety old man" and "foreboding villain." He is a true force onscreen and you never know what he's about to do. He's the wrench in the gears that threatens to destroy everything Django and Schultz have worked towards. Beyond his villainy, is an overwhelming sense of sadness and submission. For most of his screen time I was waiting for him to be the one who turns on Candie and allows the two men to succeed in their mission. I wanted Stephen to be unchained too. It's a result of Jackson's wonderful performance of having been made a racist, not born one. Kerry Washington was wonderful as Broomhilda as well. She plays every moment with the sort of unrelenting fear that plagued slaves constantly. Even before Candie unleashes his fury, Washington shows that she knows he's capable of it in every moment and line. Props to Washington for not freaking the hell out when DiCaprio smears real blood all over her face.

  

The true star of this film is Tarantino. No Tarantino film can exist without Tarantino. His dialogue style is essential to what works about his films. They may get gruesome, but there's always light conversation surrounding the mayhem. It's a beautiful juxtaposition. Tarantino not only understands the way dialogue works but he knows how to make it interesting, unique, and intensely quotable. Tarantino's filmmaking is always completely unapologetic, never flinching in the face of extreme violence, profanity, or even anachronism. It's true, Tarantino's films are rarely historically accurate. Stephen screams "Motherfucker!" almost fifty years before its first recorded use. But he doesn't do these things because he doesn't realize it. Tarantino makes a Tarantino movie and he's not going to let time or historical semantics get in the way. Plus, would it really be a Samuel L. Jackson performance without that word? Dynamite is also used as a plot device long before its invention. There's tons of these inconsistencies throughout, but it's Tarantino. If you want a historical film, go see Lincoln instead. Also, Tarantino, as per usual, cameos wonderfully towards the end of the film.

As it is a Tarantino film, it's of course got that classic Tarantino style. The best thing about Django Unchained, stylistically, is its music. Tarantino is a master at picking just the right music for a moment. Like his dynamite and motherfuckers, Quentin is not concerned with making a period piece when he picks his music. In a Deep South slavery story, Tarantino was able to include hip-hop, rock, oriental, and country music. He's concerned with telling a story, not catering to a perfect period piece. It makes for a better film because I, and likely many others, didn't go to see Django Unchained because they wanted a thought provoking piece about slavery and the social stage of the 1850s. No. We went to see the movie because it was a story worth seeing and anything Quentin can do to help that story resonate, he will do. His shots are wonderful and combine beautifully with the music. He's not bound to the laws of physics either. When a character is shot from above later on in the film, she flies backwards. It's ridiculous and noticeably so, but it's something to be respected. Tarantino makes Tarantino films and nobody can tell him how his world works. That's really what he's created: his own world. You know the movie is going to be typical Tarantino from the start with the beautifully shot opening of Django and his fellow slaves being marched across land to the tune of an original Western style song about Django himself.

Django Unchained,  in general, was a film that we'll be talking about for decades. It's fully engrossing, thought provoking, and beautifully crafted as we are used to Tarantino films being. It is filled with what good movies are made of. I can't do anything, but recommend this film.

See it For: Wonderful performances all around, undeniable style, and some killer tunes.
Quote of the Movie: "You sir are a sore loser."-- Calvin Candie "And you are an abysmal winner." -- Dr. King Schultz

Rating: 5/5